Unglued Devotional Book Review

I received a free copy of this book through BookSneeze for reviewing purposes.

Unglued Devotional: 60 Days of Imperfect Progress is a companion to the book Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions  by Lysa Terkeurst both the devotional and the book are written with the intention of helping the reader better cope with their raw emotions and their struggles with emotions. Set up with a daily opening Scripture, thought for the day, daily devotion and closing prayer this book is intended to be read a chapter a day for sixty days and thus get the reader in the habit of checking in with emotions daily.
This was my first experience reading a devotional, and I must admit that I'm not a fan of the format. That said, I did enjoy the content of the book and plan to read the book that this devotional is the companion to. As a busy mom, I'm not very good at taking the time to read and reflect upon one chapter each day for any length of time, I prefer to sit with a book and read for as long as I can at a stretch, pausing to reflect upon what I'm reading as needed.
I really enjoyed this book though, the author is very down to earth and honest about her own faults which makes her very easy to relate to. I left the book with the feeling that she and I could be friends in real life if we ever met. There were many days where I could recognize myself in what she was writing. I definitely struggle with my emotional responses to situations and often find myself feeling bad about and having to apologize for having blown up at Davis or Matt about something small because other things have been building up.

Rosebud Blooming Book Review

I originally reviewed Rosebud Blooming: Hurting to Healing in His Timing by Nancy Maggio on my old blog but I'm bringing over that content to this new blog. Here is the review I originally wrote.

Life is full of challenges and difficult times that can test anyone's faith. In this book, Nancy describes the journey she took through her own personal challenges. Nancy tells the story of how she found God after making her way through some of life's challenges and how that faith was tested later in her life with more difficult times. This book is set up as a collection of short stories and poems.
Though I don't usually read religious books, I do enjoy memoirs and I am trying to expand my horizons. I really wanted to love this book but I didn't. It started off well enough with a story from her childhood that literally gave me chills and made me wish I had a faith as strong as she had as a child.From there I would say that it went down hill. The poems seemed amateurish, which doesn't necessarily make them bad as they did make the points the author was trying to make. There were a few times while reading that I found myself contemplating putting the book down and not picking it back up because there were viewpoints expressed which I vehemently disagree with, namely the author's view of homosexuality as something to be "cured". But I kept reading because the whole point was to expose myself to viewpoints that are different from my own.All in all the stories were good and I could appreciate how the author's faith helped her overcome obstacles and heal physical injuries but it felt more like I was reading someone's diary than an actual book. It was enjoyable but not so much that I'd feel the need to read anything else by this author in the future if she publishes further works.

I would edit this review to say that I have now begun to read many more religious books as a part of my journey as a new Christian. I would also add that though I still strongly disagree with some of the author's views, I enjoy exposing myself to differing viewpoints and this was definitely different. Though it was unpolished writing, sometimes that makes for very interesting reading.

Sweet & Simple Moments with God Devotional

I am not typically a fan of devotional style books, but I keep trying them in the hopes of finding a few that I really like. I have been working on developing the habit of reading a little bit of the Bible each day and find that sometimes it is easier when I read a little bit of something inspiring either before or after I read a few chapters of the Bible. When I saw The One Year Sweet and Simple Moments with God Devotional listed on Tyndale Blog Network for review, I figured I'd request it and give devotionals another chance. I am so glad that I did!

Here is the description taken from the back of the book: 

As women, sometimes we’re running so fast that we forget to do the things that will most revive our spirits and renew our hearts. In The One Year Sweet and Simple Moments with God Devotional, Kim Newlen shares heart-lightening insights she’s gathered from pausing and listening to God in her day-to-day life, encouraging us all to take a sweet and simple moment to be still with God every day. When we do, we’ll be surprised at how much of a difference it will make in everything else! This year, make every moment count through spending sweet and simple time with the One who can carry your burdens best.

I'll admit that when I first received this book, I looked through it, read a few pages and then sort of forgot about it. I mean, I knew I had it but so many other books made their way to the top of my pile of books to read. I picked up The Sweet and Simple Moments with God Devotional again and read the passage for October 29th which talked about the importance of 'minding your manna' or more simply, making God's Word a habit. The key phrase from that day reads in part, "Read God's Word, chew on it, and do what it says."

Because I needed to write up a good review, I decided to flip backwards and read a few more passages to get a better feel for the book as a whole. The next devotion I read was for September 27th, which talked about a specific verse in scripture, 1 Chronicles 28:9. This verse is one in which King David is giving his final advice to his son, Solomon because David is dying. King David tells his son to learn to know God so that he may serve and worship him. The devotion talks about living a life seeking God so that we may all worship and serve him. The key phrase I found in this devotion was, "Living the seek life includes reading God's Word to know him more."

Flipping further back to April 27th, I read the benefits of reading God's Word as written in Psalm 119 and then on April 26th the key phrase stated, "Let's water ourselves daily with God's word! Let's think about the fact that healthy things grow, then make sure we're doing our part to feed ourselves with God's Word so our spiritual health doesn't fade like our hair color but grows stronger."

Obviously, something is telling me to make reading the Bible daily more of a priority! But set aside for a moment the actual messages of the daily devotions, (of which there are many I simply chose this grouping as it really spoke clearly to me) I truly enjoyed the way these devotions are written. Kim Newlen writes as if she were speaking to a close friend and that makes it really easy to read through and gain a new understanding of whatever topic she happens to be discussing.

I had originally planned on reading through this devotional to review it and then probably passing it along to someone else to use as I haven't been a big fan of devotionals in the past but after reading a wide selection of the daily sections, I feel compelled to keep it so that I can read through it more thoroughly using it the way it is intended. I will be adding this book to my daily Bible reading in the future, though I do have one other devotional to review so this one may have to wait a few weeks.

I received this book for free through the Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my honest review, all opinions stated are entirely my own.